How much does it cost to get the engine light checked?
The check engine light warns of issues ranging from a gas cap that's not accurately tightened to a more exceptional failure like a damaging catalytic converter or a problem with one of the car's oxygen sensors, so it huge to get the handy code reading and diagnosis. The middle cost for a check engine light diagnosis & testing is commonly between $88 and $111. The huge news, David McDavid Ford offers complimentary multi-point inspections and free diagnostics, in most cases, to help determine the cause of your check engine light.
2017 Ford Focus Check Engine Light
A flashing light hints that the problem is consistent and if not taken care of instantly may result in preeminent damage to the vehicle. If the check engine light in your 2017 Ford Focus starts flashing, that means that the problem needs immediate attention and your Ford should be brought in instantly. This flashing light usually indicates a draconian engine misfire allowing unburned fuel to be jettisoned into the exhaust system. There it can suddenly increase the temperature of the catalytic converter to a point where damage is available, requiring an expensive repair. Some owners ask if spark plugs cause the check engine light to flash? This can entirely be the cause. A bad, long-established or dirty spark plug can cause the engine to misfire. If your check engine light is flashing, please contact our team of automotive experts at David McDavid Ford urgently by calling 8174207990. If the problem is ignored or you continue to drive, this can spread to the spark plug wires, catalytic converter, or ignition coils which can lead to a highly fancy repair.
What Does the Check Engine Light Mean?
One of the most typically misunderstood lights or indicators in your 2017 Ford Focus is the check engine light. The check engine light is part of the onboard diagnostics system, and displays in a few distinctive ways. It can say "Check Engine", it can be a symbol of an engine, it can even be a combination of both. This light lights up in either an amber or red color and is part of the diagnostics system found on your automobile. Onboard computers increasingly have controlled and monitored automobile performance since the 80s and do a assortment of things for your 2017 Ford Focus. Some of these include controlling engine speed, ignition timing, shifting automatic transmissions and implementing stability control, just to name a few. With that being said, the check engine light can mean a collection of different things. It can be as pure as your gas cap being loose or as precarious as engine knocking. If your check engine light is on in your 2017 Ford Focus, contact David McDavid Ford. Contact David McDavid Ford today! Our Ford service department can help you find out what code is turning your check engine light on or scan why your check engine light is glaring.
Check Engine Light Service 2017 Ford Focus
What do you do when you’re driving along in your Ford Focus and suddenly, a yellow light illuminates on your dash and says "Check Engine". If you’re like most Ford owners, your heart sinks a little because you have little idea about what that light is trying to tell you or how you should react. The fear of the unknown (or the cost of the unknown) can be just as stressful. But take a deep breath and realize the light coming on doesn’t mean you have to pull the car over to the side of the road and call a tow truck, but it is recommended that you get your 2017 Ford Focus checked as soon as attainable. Ignoring that warning could end up causing dynamic damage to lavish engine elements.
When your 2017 Ford Focus's ECM (electronic control module), which is the vehicle's onboard computer, finds a problem in the electronic control system that it can’t constitutional, a computer turns on your check engine light. This amber or yellow light is frequently labeled “check engine” or “service engine soon”, or the light may be nothing more than a picture of an engine, or a picture of the engine with the word “check.”
When the light turns on, the ECM stores an engine code or “trouble code” in its memory that identifies as the issue, whether it's a sensor or a failing engine part. This code is find out with an professional probe tool that is used by our Ford auto repair mechanics at David McDavid Ford. There are also a number of relatively inexpensive code readers that are designed for do-it-yourselfers, should you choose that route too. While this code will tell you the issue that is detected, a true diagnosis still requires an experienced professional to choose the issue and repair it.
Is it safe to drive your 2017 Ford Focus with the check engine light on?
This question is not very effortless because it any depends on the severity of the issue. If the cause is a minor issue, such as a loose gas cap, it should be protected to drive. This is typically indicated by a steady glow of the check engine light. If you notice a difference in the performance of the vehicle, it could be an indication of a more efficient problem. If the check engine light is flashing, this means that there is a efficient issue and it is recommended to service your Ford Focus expeditiously. Call the experts at David McDavid Ford by dialing 8174207990 so you can describe the issues. Or lessen your speed and bring your 2017 Ford to our certified mechanics as soon as accessible.
What could cause the check engine light to come on in a 2017 Ford Focus?
When your check engine light comes on, this could be as authentic as tightening or replacing your gas cap. Likewise, the check engine light could also be a warning of a hazardous problem that could cause hazardous damage to your engine and come with a generous repair bill. Depending on your make and model, the check engine light will illuminate or blink. A steady glow consistently means something less hazardous but a flashing check engine light indicates that your vehicle’s engine is in hazardous trouble and service is needed quickly. If your check engine light is flashing in your 2017 Ford Focus, we excessively recommend not to drive the vehicle and schedule Ford service today. Below is a list of the most ordinary reasons your check engine light can come on:
- Your O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor) needs to be replaced. The Oxygen sensor, noted as the O2 sensor, measures the amount of oxygen in your exhaust system. If there is excess oxygen in your exhaust system, fuel burns faster and your vehicle will be less real when it comes to fuel economy. So what happens if I don’t replace your O2 sensor? A faulty sensor can not only affect your miles per gallon, but it can cause damage to your catalytic converter and your 2017 Ford Focus's spark plugs. The O2 sensor sends data to the vehicle’s onboard computer to represent the right mixture of air and fuel that enters the cylinders in your engine. A bad O2 sensor can also cause a car to fail an emissions test.
- The battery is low or dead. The battery in your 2017 Ford Focus is every intriguing. Without a car battery, your car won’t start, light up the road ahead, play the radio or charge your phone. Today’s car batteries last much longer than they did a few decades ago, and they don't really require maintenance. The price of a new one depends on the type of Ford you drive, but check our extant service coupons and specials.
- Your mass airflow sensor (known as MAF) needs to be replaced. The mass airflow sensor in your Ford Focus is what determines how much fuel is fundamental to run your engine efficiently by measuring the amount of air entering the engine. As a part of the engine management system, the mass airflow sensor helps adjust to detailed changes, like altitude. If your Ford Focus is having trouble starting, idling rough or has a sudden change in the position of the throttle pedal, this could be a sign of a bad mass airflow sensor.
- New Spark Plugs or Plug Wires are fundamental for your 2017 Ford Focus. The spark plugs are the part of your engine that ignites the air/fuel mixture in the combustion chamber of your vehicle. This explosion is what moves the pistons and makes the engine run. The spark plug wires deliver the spark from the ignition coil to the spark plugs. If your spark plugs or spark plug wires are bad or historic, you will experience poor performance and reduced power. In some extreme cases, your engine will have trouble starting or continuing to run. Worn spark plugs and plug wires can cause clogged catalytic converter or damage to ignition coils and O2 sensors, first-rate to more expensive repairs.
- Your 2017 Ford Focus has a vacuum leak. Every Ford Focus has a vacuum system that performs a wide collection of functions. The vacuum system also helps lower harmful emissions by routing the fumes as gasoline evaporates through the engine. If you notice that your RPM is high in idle or randomly surges, a vacuum leak could be the cause. Over time, vacuum hoses can arid out and crack, especially if they’re exposed to important heat or extreme chilled.
- One of the most natural and frequent cause is that your 2017 Ford Focus gas cap is loose, damaged or missing. The gas cap for your 2017 Ford Focus serves multiple purposes. It prevents gas fumes from being released when you aren't driving, it seals the fuel system and helps maintain pressure within the fuel tank. What happens if you have a bad fuel cap? If your gas cap is historic or has a ruptured seal, you can lose fuel through evaporation which will result in more trips to the pump. Luckily, to replace a gas cap isn't expensive. If your check engine light turns on shortly after you put gas in your 2017 Ford Focus, first thing you should check is to make sure the cap isn’t loose — or that it's still on your car’s roof or at the fuel pump.
- Your catalytic converter is bad or going bad. The catalytic converter is a part of your 2017 Ford Focus’s exhaust system. The catalytic converter's function is to turn the carbon monoxide created by the combustion process into carbon dioxide. A damaged catalytic converter is mostly caused by neglected maintenance, which is why David McDavid Ford offers a complimentary multi-point inspection with every Ford service. If you have an issue with your catalytic converter and don't get it repaired, your 2017 Ford Focus will not pass an emissions test, show a lack of engine performance and will negatively affect your fuel economy. Your car may run at a higher temperature, too, which can cause disparate problems from overheating.
- Issues with any aftermarket items. An aftermarket alarm, exhaust or disparate item can wreak havoc on your 2017 Ford Focus if it’s not installed properly. These aftermarket parts and accessories can discharge the battery, trigger the check engine light, or even avoid the vehicle from starting. If these issues sound admitted, transport your Focus to Ford and have our company of certified mechanics ensure that your aftermarket items were installed well and aren't causing any issue. Getting accessories, especially aftermarket parts and accessories, or using OEM parts first place might cost a microscopic bit more but could save you money from having to get poor perform and damage caused by poor installation perform corrected.
Will the check engine light reset itself?
The check engine light on your 2017 Ford Focus will frequently shut itself off if the issue or code that caused it to turn on is fixed. For example, if the cause of your check engine light coming on was a loose gas cap, if it's tightened, the light will turn itself off. Likewise, if your catalytic converter is going detailed, and you did a few of stop-and-go driving, that may have turned on the check engine light due to the high usage of the converter. In most cases, your 2017 Ford Focus light will go off after about 20-40 miles. If you commute over that amount and the light is still on, you will need to bring it in to David McDavid Ford so the light and code can be double-checked and reset.
2017 Ford Focus Check Engine Light Flashing
Although there are bountiful attainable causes of an illuminated Check Engine Light, we know from years of providing Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that there are a few commonplace causes including something as uncomplicated as a loose gas cap. Other commonplace reasons for a Check Engine Light are a malfunction with the fuel injection system, faulty head gasket, dirty mass airflow sensor, faulty emissions control part, damaged oxygen sensor, or defective spark plugs to name assorted. No matter what is the root cause of the Check Engine Light, we have the Ford Certified Technicians and the certified service protocol to isolate the root problem and repair it as mandatory to restore factory specifications. When this happens, the Check Engine Light turns off, and you can leave the service center knowing that your Ford issue was fixed.
Every 2017 Ford Focus was designed with a high-technology performance monitoring system with a computer, and a series of sensors positioned strategically throughout the vehicle on its rigorous systems. The sensors are continuously detecting conditions while sending data to the electronic control unit. If the electronic control unit detects that the data is out of factory specifications, the Check Engine Light illuminates telling you that there is a problem. However, that is the limitation of the Check Engine Light – it won’t tell you what exactly is culpable nor what to do about it. That’s where we come in; David McDavid Ford provides a Check Engine Light Diagnosis Service that isolates the core problem and gives you a recommendation on what to do next from a Tremendously Qualified Service technical.
How many miles can you drive with the check engine light?
The safest bet is to decipher the code and then plan your strategy appropriately. Since all check engine code has its own level of severity, it is difficult to predict how many miles you can drive with the warning light on. If you check engine light is flashing, we suggest that you pull over and contact David McDavid Ford to help learn if your vehicle is safe to drive in or if we suggest a tow truck. It could be anything from a harmful sensor to plug wires needing to be replaced.
2017 Ford Focus Check Engine Light Codes
The check engine light turning on can be quite intimidating to see that little light on your vehicle’s dashboard promptly illuminates, but in reality, it is not something that should cause you to shut down in fear right away. If you hear the term, diagnostic trouble codes (DTC), these are just another name for check engine light codes. These are automotive computer codes stored by the ECM, also known as the OBD (on-board computer diagnostic system) in your Focus. There are hundreds of chance codes that your check engine light can imply. While that sounds daunting, with a little patience, tackling critical diagnostics will give you ready knowledge about your vehicle and will also allow that Check Engine Light to do what it is genuinely supposed to do: be your guide. Unfortunately, definitive and helpful vehicle symptoms do not always accompany an illuminated Check Engine Light. Since there are hundreds of convincing OBD codes, there are also hundreds of convincing reasons for the light, including:
- Ignition system faults
- Transmission issues
- Emissions controls issues
- O2 Sensor
- Bad Spark Plugs
- Fuel and air metering systems problems
- Computer output circuit issues
- Old Battery
- Loose Gas Cap or Missing Gas Cap
This is why it is exciting for someone who does not have various of automotive knowledge to not assume what a code means. If the engine light comes on due to a dangerous concern, you risk damaging your car added by not repairing the issue right away. When your check engine light comes on, you should get it checked out hastily by a certified Ford mechanic. Call David McDavid Ford at 8174207990 today or schedule your check engine light service online today!